August 3, 2023 - I met up with Matt and Ashley and we made it to the park entrance around 5:30am. We weren't able to acquire permits in advance but we waited about an hour and were granted access to park at Roaring Brook Campground trailhead (it probably helped that we did this on a weekday).

We started on a relatively flat path and made it to Chimney Pond in no time. It’s a really remarkable alpine lake that reminds me more of something you’d see in the Rockies. We took the Cathedral route up to the ridgeline. This is a pretty steep scramble over some large chunks of granite. The terrain and rock is very reminiscent of New Hampshire’s Presidential Traverse but with a much sharper and defined ridgeline. It was slow going until we made it up to the primary summit, Baxter Peak. This was really the only crowded moment of the entire day.

We descended via the Knife Edge over Pamola Peak. More large slabs of granite made the descent slow going and tough on the knees. There are a few pretty exposed points with large drop-offs on the ridgeline but the worst part may have been a scramble move towards the end just before Pamola Peak. While the whole hike was only about 8 miles/4,000ft the terrain made for a long day and some abuse to the knees and ankles. We visited Knife Edge Brewery after the hike for a few.

Each canoe would have two people and a couple hundred pounds of food, beer, and camping gear. We headed northwest up the Golden Road (a route established for the logging trucks) towards the Chesuncook Boomhouse. This is where we would end our 40 mile journey three days later (if the weather cooperated). We arrived two hours later, looked out across the lake at some pretty choppy waves, and left a car for the ride back. An hour and a half later we arrived at the Lobster Lake parking lot on the West Branch Penobscot River where we would start our journey. 

After getting a fairly dismal weather report from a friendly Ranger we set off down the river at 4:30pm. The water was calm and we made pretty quick time to Thoreau Island campsite so we decided to push another four miles or so to the Halfway House campsite. We spotted two moose eating in the river and they quickly (and loudly) jumped back into the brush as we passed. We set up camp, had some dinner and Jim Beam, enjoyed the stars, and crashed for the night.

The following morning after breakfast we repacked the canoes and started our paddle down river. We needed to make quite a bit of progress while the weather was nice. We stopped at Boom House campsite for lunch just before we rounded the turn into Chesuncook Lake for the trip back south. We paddled all day with a quick stop at Chesuncook Village where we saw were a few people here enjoying the lake from their camps. These were the only people we saw on the trip and we had every campsite to ourselves.

Due to some high winds and rain, Tuesday we hunkered down at Red Brook Campsite where we spotted some eagles and lots of moose and deer prints on the beach. We had this entire island to ourselves and we made the most of it despite the rain. We ate well, enjoyed the beers and whiskey, and chopped firewood. The weather looked to improve the following morning for our trip home.

The journey started fairly calm but as we made our way out into the widest part of the lake and away from the protection of some tree cover the waves really started to pick up. Paddling a seventeen foot canoe in two to three foot swells is not easy and quite the thrill. Matt was in the back keeping the bow pointing straight, otherwise we certainly would have capsized. We took a couple waves over the side but both canoes made it safely back to Chesuncook Boomhouse around 10:30am after a wild, exhausting paddle in. We once again visited Knife Edge Brewery after for a few.